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Ramba Ral's Attack
Ramba Ral's Attack is the nineteenth episode of Mobile Suit Gundam. It aired in Japan on August 11, 1979 and in North America on August 15, 2001. Synopsis Amuro is wandering the desert in a makeshift hooded cloak. He comes across a camp consisting of an old man who directs him to a nearby small town where Amuro can find water. Meanwhile, the White Base crew are performing repairs. Bright asks Ryu if he is in consensus with everybody else regarding Amuro. Ryu asks if they're thinking of Amuro separately from the Gundam. Bright responds by saying that when the Gundam comes back, all the talk will be about Amuro. Ryu says that his opinion will depend on how Amuro is at that time. Amuro has found a small restaurant in the town and sits at the bar chewing a piece of bread. Hamon soon walks in with a large group of soldiers, including Ramba Ral. Ral tells his men to have one last big meal before the big attack and tells the restaurant owner that they'll try to fight outside of the neutral town. Noticing Amuro, Hamon offers to buy a meal for him. Fraw Bow, meanwhile, is driving across the desert in her jeep, still in pursuit of Amuro. She comes to the town and notices the Zeon transport parked there. In the restaurant, Amuro walks up to Hamon, thanking her for the meal, but telling her he can't accept her charity. Ramba laughs heartily and informs Amuro that it's quite a thing to be liked by Hamon. The other men agree and Ral offers the meal to Amuro himself. Just then, one of the soldiers posted outside comes in, holding Fraw captive. Hamon quickly notices that Fraw is wearing a Federation uniform and speculates on whether she is Amuro's girlfriend. Ral holds up Amuro's cape, revealing the gun his is carrying underneath and tells Amuro he is even more impressed with him now. Telling Amuro that things would be different on the battlefield, he lets both him and Fraw go. As soon as they leave, he orders one of his men to follow them. Outside, Fraw tries to convince Amuro to come back to White Base, but he refuses and leaves her once they hit the edge of town. Amuro refuses to admit any regret for deserting White Base and Fraw leaves. Ral's spy follows her and finds White Base, notifying Ramba Ral. Ral and his men prepare to sortie. Back at White Base, Fraw gives the rest of the crew an update on Amuro. She also tells them about the Zeon mobile suits that she saw. Mirai tells Bright that they should suspend operations and take up positions to intercept, to which he agrees. Mirai also gently reprimands Fraw for sneaking away to go find Amuro without asking permission. Ral and his unit depart for the battlefield. Amuro thinks about Ral and Hamon, wondering if they were the adversaries the White Base crew has been fighting all this time. Just then, the Gouf and two Zaku II's pass directly overhead. Amuro realizes, to his horror, that they followed Fraw and are now heading for White Base. He quickly unearths the Gundam from the hill in which he had it buried and proceeds to fly off in hopes of arriving in time. The Guncannon and Guntank have been launched into battle. Bright orders White Base to take off. Mirai complies, but can't quite get the base off the ground. Ryu, Hayato, and Kai vow to do what they can to keep any of Ramba's men from getting to the base, but the Guntank quickly has its tank treads damaged. Hayato convinces Ryu to head out in the Core Fighter to find Amuro and force ejects the top half of the Guntank. As Ryu flies overhead, he finds Amuro in a heated battle with the Gallop. Amuro is successful in damaging the Gallop just as Ryu arrives and tells him to help out White Base. Mirai meanwhile is able to get White Base to fully take off and the engines destroy one of the Zakus pursuing them. Ral jumps on White Base soon after with his Gouf however and starts attacking it. Mirai manages to throw the Gouf off of White Base by performing a barrel roll. Ral focuses his efforts on the Guncannon and is quickly able to overtake Kai. Amuro soon arrives and the Gundam and Gouf do battle. The Gouf's computer is able to easily dodge Amuro's precise shots at it. Amuro switches to the beam saber and the Gouf drops its shield, revealing a beam scimitar. The Gouf slices the Gundam's shield in half, and both mobile suits damage the other one, slicing open their cockpits. When Ral forces another charge at the Gundam, Amuro is successful in chopping both its hands off. Ral and Amuro recognize each other. Ral rams the Gouf into the Gundam and Amuro proceeds to destroy the Gouf with his beam saber. As the Gouf explodes, Ral is able to escape from it by hooking a wire to the Gundam. Ral tells Amuro that he owes all of his success to the Gundam's power and escapes. Amuro helps to retrieve the other vehicles, and is promptly thrown into solitary confinement once he returns to White Base. Bright, Ryu and Kai chew Amuro out, particularly after he arrogantly claims that they'll simply have to have him fight in the Gundam again the next time Ral attacks White Base. Amuro calls out to Sayla, trying to get her to listen to him to no avail. He starts crying, and thinking of Ral declares that he must defeat him. Staff *'Script:' Hiroyuki Hoshiyama *'Unit Director:' Susumu Gyoda *'Animation Director:' Yoshikazu Yasuhiko Trivia * When Kai engages Ral's Gouf in the Guncannon, Ral manages to destroy the Guncannon's right cannon in a grapple, although it is unclear how he managed to physically destroy it. A pink explosion, an effect typically associated with beam weaponry, erupts from the Guncannon's shoulder, but the Gouf itself does not physically move during the explosion, leaving the method of damage to question.